21 Mar 2013

Stir Fried Green Beans & Tempeh

So I officially started uni again, but this time will (hopefully) be the last semester.
I have been out of my studying-mode for 4 months and let me tell you.. it's ugly.
I felt like I kind of forgot how to actually study in a classroom environment.
I'm guilty for falling half asleep on my first lecture of the week and I skipped one lecture already.
Such a bad student. Whoever reading this post,
please do not copy what I'm doing.

I went to Boxhill for grocery shopping after three years of constantly going to Coles / Woolworths.
I was trying to do something new, you know.
I do go to Boxhill every now and then, but mostly for dinner with my friends or family.
This was probably only my third time shopping there..WHY DIDN'T I THINK ABOUT THAT BEFORE?
They have all those exotic & weird Asian ingredients, everything seems fresh, and oh-so-freaking-cheap!
I bought a bag of green beans, 2 carrots, a small batch of chillies, 1 kg of chicken wings, a dozen eggs, a package of enoki mushrooms, one package of peach-flavored wafers for only $10.85 and these things will last me for about 1 1/2 weeks, even more!
I will totally shop at fresh market more..

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I had a block of tempeh in my fridge the other day and I was thinking about making this one Indonesian dish called tempeh mendoan (fried battered thinly-sliced tempeh) which is my favourite kind of tempeh dish when I was young.
However, the tempeh that I got was different from the tempeh block that we have in Indonesia. Indonesian tempeh is usually a lot thicker and has more height to it, which is perfect for tempeh mendoan. The tempeh that I bought was not great in height so it's impossible to get the correct kind of slices for the dish so I canceled my plan..
Instead, I thought about making stir fried green beans with crumbled tempeh.
I imagine it as a meatless alternative to those spicy stir fried green beans with minced beef sold in Chinese restaurants, with more of Indonesian flare to it.

A very humble and homey kind of food. Served with my favourite type of evil carbohydrate, fluffy white rice.

Stir Fried Green Beans with Crumbled TempehServing : 1

Ingredients:

A handful-bunch of green beans, washed, chopped matchstick length, par-boiled & run it under cold water

1/2 block of tempeh, roughly chopped

1 shallot, finely minced

2 cloves of garlic, finely minced

1 small red chilli, thinly sliced

2 tbsp kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)

salt and pepper to taste

Cooking oil

1. Add a glug of oil into a hot wok (set on a medium high heat) and throw in the finely minced garlic, shallot and red chilli. Stir until fragrant for 10 seconds

2. Add the chopped tempeh, stir it around and cook the tempeh for 1-2 minutes or until it gets some color onto it and then break the large chunks with your spatula but you don't need to be too precise about this. The idea is to make the tempeh looks like minced beef!

3. Add the green beans and toss it around
4. Add the kecap manis, and season with salt and pepper. Mix it well to coat the tempeh and green beans with the seasonings.
5. Serve warm with fluffy white rice

I can't really complain about this dish.
It's simple, easy and tasty.
I finally got the chance to eat tempeh again, which is very satisfying and made me feel at home :)